A Letter from Susan Fuhrman

Published in 10/10/2013

Our 125th
anniversary year at TC has been full of special celebrations on campus and
around the world to mark our distinguished history and the TC “legacy of
firsts.” Now that we are more than halfway through this milestone year, we’re
looking ahead to how our College will help to shape the 21st century and
advance the education, health, and well-being of individuals and communities
around the world.

We kicked
off our 125th anniversary in March with a wonderful month-long exhibit on TC’s
history at the New York Historical Society, and we continued our celebration
the following month at our annual Academic Festival.

Global TC Day on July 25
brought together the worldwide TC community to celebrate the 125th
anniversary in a dozen countries and in as many U.S. cities. I was thrilled to
join TC alumni in London for their Global TC Day celebration and connect via
Skype with our gathering of faculty and staff on campus in New York City.
Global TC Day was a great success and we hope to continue this new tradition in
the years ahead.

We hosted
a New York City Mayoral
Forum on July 30 in Cowin Auditorium where the 14 candidates for mayor of
New York spoke on the arts and arts education. WNYC public radio hosts Leonard
Lopate and Kurt Andersen interviewed the candidates. The following week I
appeared on Lopate’s
show to discuss the challenges for the next mayor in regard to arts
education.

Our
anniversary celebration continued with TC Week the first
week of September – as we greeted new students and welcomed back returning
students with special events and activities to mark the 125th. We kicked off
the week with a rousing event to celebrate the co-naming of 120th
Street as Teachers College Way.
Students, faculty and staff waved blue and orange pompoms as dignitaries lauded
TC’s distinguished history and legacy of service to New York City. Deputy Mayor
Linda Gibbs presented a proclamation signed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that
saluted TC for “a broad-based focus on education” that encompasses “wellness
and health and the well-being of communities and individuals.”

Our anniversary
year will culminate with a benefit Gala on November 12 – a celebration that
will fittingly take place on 125th Street at the legendary Apollo
Theater. We will honor philanthropist Laurie
M. Tisch; arts education supporters Susan
Benedetto and Tony Bennett; GE
Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt; and
school reform giant James Comer for
their leadership in fields related to education. All proceeds from the Gala
will benefit TC’s scholarship fund. It is sure to be a wonderful and memorable
evening.

We have so
much to celebrate this year, not only our illustrious history and “legacy of
firsts,” but also the continuing achievements of TC people today who are
creating future firsts and working toward a smarter, healthier, and more just
world for all.

TC is
known for its multidisciplinary enterprises that bring together the best minds
to address our most urgent challenges. A wonderful example is the new Laurie M. Tisch
Center for Food, Education & Policy, which was established last winter
with a $5 million gift from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Laurie Tisch
is a long-time supporter of the College who serves as Vice Chair of TC’s Board
of Trustees. The center will serve as a flagship of the Healthy Food &
Community Change initiative, which will support increased access, availability,
affordability, and knowledge of healthy foods and promote healthy choices.

We also
launched the Center
for Health Equity and Urban Science Education this year. Co-directed by Christopher Emdin, Assistant Professor
of Science Education, and Barbara
Wallace, Professor of Health Education, the Center seeks to build
evidence-based approaches to health disparities with a focus on school success
and shaping policy.

This
summer, TC’s Office of School and Community Partnerships was awarded $3.5 million in
federal funding for its Harlem Ivy 21st Century Community
Learning Center to design, deliver and evaluate expanded learning opportunities
for three of the six public schools in Harlem that we support with a wide range
of resources through the TC Partnership Schools Consortium.

Through a
gift from TC Trustee Joyce B. Cowin
(M.A. ’52), TC launched the first annual Financial Literacy
Summer Institute for New York City high school teachers. Under the direction
of Professor Anand Marri, the
Institute helps teachers integrate important concepts about finance into
history, social studies and other courses to increase students’ financial
literacy.

Finally, Edmund Gordon, the Richard March Hoe
Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education Director Emeritus of the
Institute for Urban and Minority Education,led The Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education, a
30-member commission of educators and thought leaders formed to examine the
future of education and its assessment. The commission issued a report in March
that called for assessments that help students accelerate learning and teachers
personalize instruction.

I am also
pleased to report our world-class faculty members continue to garner prestigious
honors and achievements. Barbara Tversky,
Professor of Psychology and Education and an internationally recognized
cognitive psychologist, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Jeffrey Henig, Professor
of Political Science and Education, and Anna
Neumann, Professor of Higher Education, are among the dozen newly elected
members of the National Academy of Education. Thomas Bailey, George & Abby O'Neill Professor of Economics and
Education; Jeffrey Henig; and Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of
Sociology and Education, are among 23 scholars selected to be the 2013 Fellows
of the American Education Research Association.

This fall
we welcomed to TC an impressive group of 14 new faculty members who will teach
and conduct research across our diverse fields and disciplines. Our new faculty
brings expertise in path breaking areas of study including educational data
mining, drivers of educational success for low-income families, social-emotional
health of disadvantaged children, and the challenges posed by the Common Core
standards for English language learners. One is even reputed to be the first
sociologist to commission a Grammy-nominated album. I look forward to the work
this extremely strong group of scholars will produce at TC as they inspire our
students to achieve excellence in all that they do.

Of course,
our talented and dedicated students are the focus of so much of what TC is all
about. That’s why I am always thrilled to greet new students to campus in
September as they begin their TC adventures. This year’s new students represent
our largest, most diverse, and arguably our most talented incoming class in the
College’s history. They come from 75 countries and 48 states, and they’ve
arrived at TC ready to create their own “legacy of firsts” – with a distinctly
21st century twist.

Among our new students are the young woman who
was the subject of the movie Homeless to Harvard,
who chose to continue her amazing and inspiring journey at TC; a dancer from
the renowned Ballet Hispanico; and the great-great granddaughter of Booker T.
Washington.

This year
we’ve received major gifts focused on providing all our exceptional students
with increased opportunity and a robust learning environment at TC.

Longtime
TC Trustee Abby O’Neill made a gift commitment
of $11 million to support aspiring teachers who demonstrate a commitment to
teaching in New York City. We welcomed the first class of 12 of 24 O’Neill
Fellows in September. The Fellows will earn dual certification in areas of
great need for New York City schools, such as science/inclusive education,
elementary education/bilingual, or TESOL (the teaching of English to speakers
of other languages).

An $8 million gift
from education philanthropists Camilla
and George Smith will enable the College to renovate the fourth floor of
its Gottesman Libraries as the Camilla and George Smith Learning Theater. The
new facility will support the next generation of faculty and student research
and instruction and ensure that TC remains home to the world’s preeminent
library in the field of education.

While we
have so much to celebrate at TC during our anniversary year, we are planning
for an even greater future.

We will create
this future by supporting and empowering our world-class faculty and students,
infusing our campus with leading-edge technology and ensuring our wonderful
historic buildings serve our 21st century needs, and continuing to develop and
launch programs and fields of inquiry with global influence and impact.

I am
tremendously privileged to lead an institution that has excelled at preparing
so many of our leaders in education, health, psychology, business, and human
development. You inspire me every day with your work and your service around
the world. You are not only TC’s most loyal ambassadors, you also are the best
examples of the transformative impact of a TC education.

As we look ahead to our next 125 years, I look forward to
your active engagement in our conversations about the future of Teachers
College and the fields we serve. Working together we can build an even stronger
TC for generations to come.